Photoshop CS6: failing to launch on Windows

At launch (standard double-click of photoshop icon) I merely see a solitary dialogue box (nothing more). This is recent and peculiar to Photoshop CS6 (no other software behaves like this).

I have re-installed CS6 software without any stable solution to this problem.

I can get round it (haphazardly) by logging out, logging back in and then right-clicking on a file in Explorer (using the FastPictureViewer codec to preview files that Photoshop cannot itself see) which then seems generally to open the relevant file in Photoshop.

Put simply Photoshop will not now launch normally and needs instead to be 'requested' via a third party (ie right-clicking a file within Explorer).

I am very concerned by this, especially since the thread CS6 Photoshop: No image preview on Open dialog box in CS6 would seem to have a possible relevance to this issue (both are workarounds to perfectly standard workflow).

I get no error dialog, simply the start up initiation process, followed solely by the lone appearance of the (photoshop) toolbox dialog. nothing more, and nothing is pinned to the taskbar (which I would expect). Importantly, nothing appears when I then right-click a file to open it (ie I have to log out first).

Effectively therefore everything behaves as if the programme is running - except of course that I cannot see anything!

Preferences are (I believe) set to default (certainly I have not tinkered with them since re-installing CS6 from CD).

Launching the 32 bit version did work correctly just now. However, closing it and re-launching the 64 bit produced the problem again.

From the above, I would assume right-clicking a file (when newly logged in) launches the 32 bit version and the whole issue likley relates to 64 bit.

Obviously I shall look further into this and any further advice would be most welcome

no error dialog, simply the appearance of the 'tools' menu (ie Window/Tools)... excuse misnaming as dialog!

no palettes nor menu bar visible. no keyboard action shows (or hides) anything. I can drag the tools menu as if the programme was working... but that is all that is visible... no document/ document window/ no icon in taskbar/ no nothing! video graphics card (ATI Radeon HD 4670) now two years old, works correctly for all else.

I'm puzzled as well -- if the tool palette shows, then other things should be drawing as well. It's possible you just have a video card driver problem, but I haven't heard of behavior like that before.

Chris, unsure how to reset preferences when I cannot access the 64 bit version! (standard 'reset all warning dialogues' in the 32 bit version wont correct the 64 source and I would need clear instructions to follow if it is necessary to access the program files).

In fact I am inclined to suggest that, as with the 'no image preview' issue (where using Fast Picture View codec to view files in Explorer and then right-clicking a file to open it), the situation here is effectively 'resolved' from a WORKING aspect, even if the result (here sticking to 32 bit) is the necessary trade-off.

So long as work-arounds continue to work, then I am perfectly happy and am grateful for your genuine help with this problem!